"He's not gonna crash the car": JD PicKell sees Arch Manning living up to hype for Texas Longhorns 

Arch Manning has a huge year ahead of him in 2025 as he finally gets the chance to carry on his family's legacy. The highly rated prospect will take over as Texas' starting quarterback in the upcoming college football season following the departure of Quinn Ewers for the NFL.

In his latest projection of the top 10 quarterbacks in the Southeastern Conference in the 2025 college football season, JD PicKell ranked Arch Manning as No. 5. The On3 analyst believes the quarterback will live up to expectations for the Longhorns next season.

“I love the floor for him,” PicKell said (Timestamp 5:47). “I love what's around him. I don't think he's going to crash the car; that is Texas football. The reason why I feel that way is he had two years to watch somebody else drive it, and now he has arguably the greatest play-caller in the sport in Steve Sarkisian.”

Arch Manning showed a glimpse of what he could do with his performance for Texas in 2024 when he got the opportunity. The quarterback threw for 939 yards and nine touchdowns last season while rushing for 108 yards and four touchdowns.

JD PicKell believes Texas won't lean much on Arch Manning

While stressing his point about Arch Manning having a successful season in 2025, JD Pickell believes Texas won't lean too much on the quarterback in its offensive play. He noted that the Longhorns will also adopt the run game, putting less pressure on Manning.

“The other thing I like for him: I don't think that he's going to just totally be leaned on from the jump,” Pickell said (Timestamp 6:02). “Big game against Ohio State early, so Arch better eat your weedies baby."

“But I think they're going to share the load with him a little bit in the sense that they're going to run the football. They are going to do a lot of RPO stuff to try and get defenses off balance. I like the fit a lot, I like the ability, I like what we've seen and I think he's a top 5 guy when it's all said and done in the SEC this season.”

Texas is expected to have the likes of CJ Baxter make a significant contribution in the run game next season. Overall, the Longhorns offense is expected to remain explosive in the 2025 college football season, and they are currently projected as the favorite for the national championship.